Red Arrow: April 1966 - April 2023.
As you'd have known, the last two died on 29 April 2023; routes 507 and 521.
Red Arrow, an experiment; flat fare limited stop feeder services; that started in the 1960s with only route 500 (Victoria - Marble Arch - Oxford Circus [off-peak]).
With it's success, more services sprawled from 1968. Routes had frequencies of every 2-3 minutes during the peaks, though were mostly quiet during the off-peak, effectively wasted resources.
Attempts tried in the 1980s to address this problem, by giving routes weekend services and the like, to some success one could optimistically say (looking at 507).
Which partly explains how most died off before the end of the 20th century, with only three surviving in the 21st.
As the British economy changed, some workplaces moving elsewhere, we found ourselves in the mid 90s with only the 501 505 507 521.
The 507 and 521 were still very strong, right until 2020.
Covid.
More now than ever, a complete change of balance with working. Work from home is commonplace, though not an end-all-be-all. It has heavily impacted many. For our relevance, this resulted in heavy drops in frequency on our remaining 507 and 521.
All in all:
Routes 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 513 521 existed.
Now: none.
Their sections live on under daily routes.
Who killed them...?
Going in order of deaths, allowing me to group the few multiple withdrawals in one segment.
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24.10.1969
508 (Marylebone circular, via Oxford Street)
Last day of operation
First blood.
In an ironic turn of events, the 508 was introduced to allow the cutback of 505 west of Oxford Circus. Then brand new 55 allows the first withdrawal of a Red Arrow route, the 508.
Replacement: New 55 covered Tottenham Court Road to Marylebone.
Baring in mind, the 55 didn't spend long, having a reroute to Aldwych. The section from 508 partly paralleled by 159 between Marylebone and Piccadilly Circus - now 139.
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18.01.1970
504 (Waterloo - Liverpool Street)
Last day of operation
A route similar to our 21st century 521, very very similar to a 26 that was just rerouted. Even in it's own time period, it paralleled 502 extensively, save for London Wall which 502 dived down.
Replacement: None
No surprises then, it had no notable replacement.
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04.02.1972
509 (Victoria - Royal Albert Hall circular)
Last day of operation.
A route which has some roads currently served by the 360 which was introduced in the 21st century as part of Congestion Charge. As for the raison d'etre for 509, it was shadowed by the big daily 52. Shadowed meant the 509 died in favour for a small PVR increase on the 52.
Replacement: 52 enhancement
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08.10.1972
511 (Victoria - Victoria Coach Station)
Last day of operation.
3 stops, and only lasted 3 months.
Replacement: none
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11.03.1976
505 (Waterloo - Marble Arch)
Last day of operation.
Until in the 1970s, you'd not have a way to get from Oxford Circus to Waterloo by direct bus (176 would only do so from 1987). Nor Piccadilly Circus to Waterloo, by direct bus. Your best choice was the Bakerloo Line.
Now you had the 505... until 1976.
New 508 replaced it in 1969 between Marylebone and Oxford Circus.
Funnily enough, the current 139 (split from 159's northern section) would be extended in central London to Waterloo, bringing back this bus link and would turn out to be really popular, even more.
Replacement: none
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18.03.1977
506 (Victoria - Piccadilly Circus)
Last day of operation.
In an age where going a longer distance on your bus journey, much like current tube journeys, meant it was more expensive, these Red Arrow bus services were a breath of fresh air, as they were flat fare. Now all buses are flat fare (£1.75 as of 2023).
Even then, the rest of 501-507 offered either a replacement to existing routes, or offered new links. The 506 did neither. Simply a parallel of 38, even despite 38 having shorts between Victoria and Piccadilly Circus (or Bloomsbury), which didn't get withdrawn. The same couldn't be said for the short 7 year stint that 506 had.
Replacement: none
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30.01.1981
503 (Victoria - Waterloo)
Last day of operation.
Looking back, it's not much different to a 511 that will come in due time. No different to the current 11 between Victoria and Waterloo. Which makes me scratch my head as to how elusive it seems, that the 503 died without replacement unlike 511.
Replacement: none
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| Pretend it says 503 instead of 511. |
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12.08.1988
500 (Victoria - Oxford Circus)
Last day of operation.
The pilot route. The Red Arrow. Running from the busiest shopping street in London to a busy rail terminal. Quite genius.
I'll spare myself it's ingenuity, instead mentioning two quirky parts of it's life. It used Brook Street after serving Oxford Circus to reach Marble Arch. The other, is it became a circular route via Westminster, a section that was withdrawn; reverting to the simple end-to-end shuttle via Park Lane. Just before it's transformation into a circular route, it was revised to run on Oxford Street both directions, negating the need to use Brook Street.
All good things must come to an end, whilst it was the first, it couldn't outlive it's second generation nor fourth generation counterparts.
Replacement: 73
73 rerouted at Hyde Park to Victoria (10 born to replace 73)
Since then, the 73 was cut back to Oxford Circus, with 390 rerouted from it's Notting Hill corridor to Victoria. As a result the 73 plummeted downwards in patronage, though the 390 translated that loss into it's gain, keeping a healthily used section intact.
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27.10.1989
506 (Victoria - Paddington)
509 (Oxford Circus - Liverpool Street)
Last day of operation.
The 506 you would think may have spawned from a cut of the 6... wrong! Suppose 36 is the square of 6. It was the 36A, which saw itself reduced to a peak-hour only route in it's life, running between Paddington and Brockley Rise at a frequency of 4 buses per hour (every 15 minutes), cut back to Victoria with the introduction of 506.
Red Arrow 506 was more frequent at 6 buses per hour (every 10 minutes) during the peaks, and 5 bph off-peak (every 12 minutes).
In all this the 36 still exists, thus 506 was duplicated capacity, which was promptly removed after only 14 months. The 36A that 506 replaced the central section of, the 36A outlived the 506 for a few years later until 1991.
509.
Born to replace the 9 east of Aldwych during off-peak and Saturday times. Shortly after it lost the Saturday service. Then wound up replaced by the very 9 that it replaced, regaining it's off-peak service.
The section retained by 23, which was paralleled by 11. Eventually the 23 would be cut back, citing extra capacity along the corridor.
Replacements: none
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24.05.1991
503 (South Kensington - Bloomsbury - Moorgate, Finsbury Square)
510 (Victoria - Liverpool Street)
Last day of operation.
503
One of the new experiments of the 1980s, a route between South Kensington and Russell Square which quickly received an extension to Bloomsbury during Mondays-Fridays. It only operated during the peaks on weekdays and on Saturday shopping hours. Further extended on Monday-Fridays to Moorgate only 14 months later.
Being a route that, linking some places directly that other routes didn't, yet offering nothing else unique, it is no surprise it faded away after barely 3 years of life.
The section on Beech Street would be served by an extension of 153 from Smithfield in 2001, a full decade after the withdrawal of 503.
510
It replaced an old East London-focused bus route 10 between Victoria and Aldgate, then ended up killed by a brand new C10 which replaced it's Victoria to Elephant section. Unfortunately Horseferry Road would no longer be served by the descendant that is now C10, though the C10 would end up being the reason for the remaining route along Horseferry Road to be withdrawn...
Replacement (503): none
Replacement (510): C10
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17.07.1992
502 (Waterloo - Liverpool Street)
513 (Waterloo - London Bridge)
Last day of operation.
Almost as if the routes are constantly coming back, copying each other's homework but slightly differing it.
The 513 following a similar tale to 9 and 509. The 513 replaced 13 east of Aldwych.
Replacements: 23 26 76 521
New 23 covering Old Broad Street until Aldwych
New 26 covering Fleet Street until Waterloo
New 521 covering Cannon Street to London Bridge.
The 76 rerouted via Fleet Street and Waterloo Bridge instead of Stamford Street and Blackfriars Bridge.
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16.07.1993
511 (Victoria - Waterloo)
Last day of operation.
It replaced the eastern portion of C1, the C1 once spanning Waterloo to Kensington, shortened to be Victoria to Kensington instead.
Replacement: 211
Ended up swallowed entirely by brand new 211, whom will be cut sometime in 2023, in the meantime it's replacement and father is duplicating it between the same Victoria to Waterloo section. The father in question? The 11.
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18.08.2000
505 (Waterloo - Shoreditch)
Last day of operation.
This route has it's origin in today's route 5. A little odd you might think at first, since it's currently Canning Town to Romford. That 5 started life as a Bloomsbury to Becontree Heath route, of which in 1981 it was extended via Aldwych to Waterloo.
Only a few years down in 1989, the 5 was truncated to Old Street, until truncated to Canning Town mostly in 1990, then completely in 1999.
The 505 which replaced 5 bore a similar fate, albeit truncated from London Bridge to Shoreditch since it was paralleled by 35 and 47. Though, 505's killer would be a route who didn't change form since the days of Trolleybus 543/643.
Replacement: 243
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31.05.2002
501 (Waterloo - London Bridge)
Last day of operation.
One of the original routes, perhaps could've been retained, with a reroute away from Bank onto Cannon Street. Though it was easier keeping the 521 number for the job, not having to mess with the knowledge of workers. Out with the old, keeping the relatively young 521 for longer. Even if the only notable differences between 501 and 521 being; 501 went via Bank, the 521 via Cannon Street.
Replacement: 141 and 521
141 extension to London Bridge (to retain capacity from Bank to London Bridge)
521 enhancement (conversion to articulated single deckers)
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29.04.2023
507 (Victoria - Waterloo)
521 (Waterloo - London Bridge)
Last day of operation
I'm sure we have recency bias.
The 507 was born to replace original 46 and original 70 between Victoria and Waterloo.
It gained a Sunday service in 1969 which was lost in quickly. Minibuses operated in the early 90s. It even saw double deckers in the Citaro fires of 2003/2004. Regained a Sunday service in 2009.
The 521 was born as a pseudo-renumber of 513 and reroute via Holborn Circus instead of Fleet Street, then eventually having 501 withdrawn in exchange for enhancements in capacity and frequency, by way of articulated single deckers.
Replacement (507): 3 and C10
Replacement (521): 59 and 133
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| Edited from the original consultation PDFs |
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Bonus would be 615 and 616, which were meant to join the Red Arrow numbering scheme, but the ambition for a different type of flat fare to the Red Arrow routes meant they received a different numbering scheme. In the end, these two would be double decker routes, limited stop like the Red Arrow single deck counterparts, though would be replaced by normal stopping routes down the line, almost similar to some Red Arrow routes...
With that said and done, thanks for reading this short post. Stay safe, until the next one.
Articles referenced:
https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/9166451
https://www.angelfire.com/ult/eplates/500s.html
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